IT skills are rapidly evolving, driven by cloud, AI, and more. Companies and employees aim to stay relevant, but skill development often clashes with daily tasks. Inaccurate planning and competing corporate demands lead to wasted resources, frustrated employees, and low training ROI.
Like wine, IT staff quality varies widely. Top performers are crucial, while underperformers pose a challenge. Attrition is a key cost; managing it involves performance plans and addressing factors beyond salary, like exciting projects and good managers. Do companies really prioritize people? It depends.
Corporate planning mirrors communist-era five-year plans: often unrealistic and based on inflated figures. Like then, supply and demand mismatches lead to losses. Flexibility and entrepreneurial leadership are key, but often clash with corporate structures.
IT companies boosted profits by leveraging tax havens. Establishing regional invoicing centers in low-tax jurisdictions became standard practice. This, coupled with the 2008 financial crisis, solidified offshoring as a crucial business strategy.
The Y2K bug, dot-com bubble, and 9/11 dramatically shifted the US IT landscape. Companies reacted by offshoring, primarily to India, creating a win-win for businesses and workers. Learn how this perfect storm reshaped the industry.
After 30 years in IT, I’m sharing real corporate stories in my new blog, Marx and the Corporations.